Chapter 7 - THE SECOND BENEFICIARY
Julianne had a reason to be frightened.
David had purchased life insurance on her too.
Two million dollars.
She discovered the application while searching his briefcase for her passport.
The policy had not yet been activated.
But her signature was already on it.
Forged.
Just like mine.
Just like the documents from Lily’s trust.
Julianne copied everything onto her phone.
That was why she recorded the meetings.
She thought David might be stealing money.
She did not yet understand how much.
Agent Reed showed me the application.
I stared at Julianne’s date of birth.
Twenty-five years old.
Two million dollars.
David was beneficiary.
“What was he planning?”
I asked.
“We don’t speculate beyond evidence.”
Reed answered.
I hated that phrase.
But I understood it.
The evidence showed patterns.
It did not show every intention.
Then Reed found another policy.
Mine.
Fifteen million dollars.
David had increased my life insurance eight months earlier.
My signature appeared again.
Forged.
Three women in David’s world.
His wife.
His daughter.
His mistress.
All converted into numbers.
Fifteen million.
Ten million.
Two million.
Julianne stopped cooperating for almost a day.
Her attorney wanted an agreement first.
That delay nearly cost investigators something important.
Martin Keller tried to leave the country.
He was stopped at O’Hare with two laptops and $90,000 in cash.
One laptop contained internal Vance Meridian records.
The fraud was larger than Lily’s trust.
Far larger.
David and Martin had created fake vendors for seven years.
Consulting companies.
Supply contractors.
Marketing agencies.
Some existed only on paper.
Vance Meridian paid them.
Money returned through offshore structures.
Estimated total.
$63 million.
My father had founded Vance Meridian thirty-two years earlier.
He named it after the family.
David married into it.
Then slowly convinced everyone he had built it.
After Dad died, David became chief executive.
I stepped away from operations to raise Lily.
That had been exactly what he needed.
Agent Reed looked at me.
“Your father appears to have suspected something.”
My heart tightened.
“Why?”
“He ordered an independent audit three months before he died.”
“I never knew.”
“The audit was canceled after his death.”
“By David?”
“Yes.”
I remembered Dad’s final months.
He had been irritated with David.
Short-tempered.
Once he told me.
“Ask more questions.”
I thought he meant marriage.
Maybe he meant everything.
Reed continued.
“There’s another issue.”
“What?”
“The audit firm retained working files.”
I leaned forward.
“What did they find?”
“Not enough for charges.”
He paused.
“But they identified Meridian Lifestyle Consulting.”
The same company that paid for the yacht.
May you like
Dad had found it before he died.
And somewhere in David’s world, somebody had known.
